Can Iron Deficiency Cause Kidney Damage

We know that the kidneys are very important for filtering and purifying the blood so as to remove wasteful substances and maintain internal balances. When a person suffers from iron deficiency for long time, they are very likely to develop iron-deficiency anemia which is characterized by low red blood cell count and declined blood flow to the kidneys.

For a healthy person that have no kidney problems, iron deficiency may not be very harmful to their kidney functions. Early and effective treatment can help avoid kidney damages. However for those that have already developed kidney diseases, iron deficiency can be very harmful. Most kidney disease patients especially kidney failure patients suffer from mild to severe anemia due to declined secretion of erythropoietin. If there lack of iron in the patient’s body, anemia can become even worse and renal damages can be worsened.

Anyway, effective prevention and early treatment should be sought to reduce harms to the kidneys. An early detection enables early treatment so as to have good curative effects and avoid too advanced damages to the body. If you suffer from iron-deficiency anemia, the following symptoms and signs can occur including fatigue, shortness of breath, weakness, paleness, headache, feeling cold, brittle nails, etc. If you experience one or several of the above mentioned symptoms, an early diagnosis should be done to check if you have anemia or not.

If so, you need to seek early and effective measurements to bring it well under control.

Since iron deficiency is the root problem, you can first have some iron-rich foods so as to help ease the symptoms. If only diet can not help, some medications and iron supplement will be needed. Or in severe anemia conditions, patients may need to have blood transfusion.

For kidney disease patients, only treating anemia and iron-deficiency is not enough. Because the very root problem is renal damages and declined renal functions, therefore more effective treatment that can help repair renal damages and improving renal functions should be sought so that more erythropoietin can be produced and anemia can be treated naturally and effectively.